Friday, April 13, 2012

Springtime penguin chicks and one lucky egg!

Posted by: Kirsten Pisto, Communications

A fuzzy Humboldt penguin chick stretches out during
a check-up with keepers. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo.

What is more adorable than a penguin chick check-up? It’s tough to think
of anything more wonderful to celebrate springtime than a couple of fuzzy, gray
additions to our Humboldt penguin colony, especially the story behind one of
these very lucky chicks!

Up close with a penguin chick. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Two little penguin chicks received their first
weigh-in and visual health assessment yesterday behind the scenes at our award-winning
Humboldt penguin exhibit. Keepers John and Celine carefully weighed and checked
each penguin chick, the first two of this year’s penguin breeding season. These desert penguin
chicks weighed in yesterday at 9 oz. and 11 oz.

Penguin chick on the scale! Photo
by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo.

Here
you can see a penguin egg being candled. Keepers use a special light to look
through the shell to check on the growth of the chick. Photo by Ryan
Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

The first chick
hatched on April 3 to 4-year-old mother Sardinia and 9-year-old
father Groucho. While the first egg was just hatching, a young visitor alerted
the keeper that he could see a second egg on a cliff in the exhibit! The
keeper, Celine, immediately followed the boy’s instructions and scooped up the
egg. The egg was relocated under a pair of foster parents where it proceeded to
hatch a couple of days later on April 5!

Penguin keeper, an excited Celine Pardo, holds one of the new penguin chicks. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

Celine wanted to personally
thank the little hero (described as 7 or 8 years old with blonde, curly hair,
wearing a white t-shirt, and who was extremely polite) for spotting the precarious
egg but he was gone by the time she retrieved it and had returned to the
exhibit. “We are so grateful to this little boy for helping us save this
precious bird. If another penguin stumbled upon it or a crow or seagull scooped
it up, it may have been a goner,” said Pardo. “We’d like to find him and extend
an invitation to go behind the scenes to meet the chick and help name it. The
story of this chick shows how visitors of all ages can help support the care of
animals at the zoo and, in this case, help save an endangered bird.”

We’re now asking
for everyone’s help to find the little boy who spotted the egg. We’d love to
find him to properly thank him for his keen observation and help in rescuing
the lucky egg. If anyone knows this mystery boy, please contact the zoo by
emailing: woodlandparkzoopr@zoo.org.

Keepers,
Celine Pardo and John Samaras, do a visual check of a very wiggly new penguin
chick! Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo.

Both
chicks will now spend time nesting in their cozy burrows. The chicks hang out
with their parents (and foster parents), who take great care of them, feeding,
cleaning and keeping them warm. Keepers try to minimize staff intervention, but
they do measure weight gain to make sure the tiny penguins are getting enough
to eat.

Keeper John Samaras holds one of the new penguin chicks. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Before the new
chicks reach fledging age and go outdoors on exhibit, they will be removed from
the nest so keepers can condition the birds to approach staff for feeding and
other animal care activities. The growing chicks will have round-the-clock
access to a shallow pool where they can practice their swimming, flying and
twirling in a less crowded environment. Humboldt penguins have a body made to
swim. They use their strong wings to literally “fly” underwater, usually just
below the surface. The penguins use their feet and tail to steer at speeds of
up to 20 miles per hour!

Four
additional eggs are expected to hatch between April 16 and 26.
You’ll be able to visit these chicks when they join the larger colony of
penguins in the outdoor exhibit sometime by mid-summer!

Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo.

Last
year, as part of Woodland Park Zoo’s continuing
effort in the conservation of Humboldt penguins, keeper John Samaras had the opportunity to
travel to Punta San Juan in Peru and take part in an annual health assessment
of the wild population conducted by zoo professionals and Peruvian biologists. Unlike their ice and
snow-dwelling Antarctic cousins, Humboldt penguins inhabit hot, dry coastlines. Woodland Park Zoo’s penguin exhibit, which opened in May
2009, mimics the coast of Punta San Juan, a barren desert peninsula that juts
out into the South Pacific in southern Peru. You can read more about these endangered birds and John’s adventures in Peru here.

Young
visitors get a close-up welcome from one of our curious penguins. Photo by Mat
Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo.